By slamming materials together, scientists have made a mineral that is found naturally only in meteorites and the deep layers of Earth's mantle.

Their successful "shock" experiment reveals new clues about the formation of our early Solar System. picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago

Choose whether the following 16 pics are animal, vegetable or mineral. I got 13/16. picked by ogri2003 2 years ago

Rainwater collected on King Island, near Tasmania, will be sold under the name Cloud Juice for more than £5 a bottle once it makes the 11,000-mile trip to Britain. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Using the latest methods for nanofabrication, a team has discovered a surprising new electronic property in one of the earliest-known and most-studied magnetic minerals on Earth - lodestone, also known as magnetite. By changing the voltage in their experiment, researchers were able to get magnetite at temperatures colder than minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit to revert from an insulator to a conductor. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

"Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns." picked by KingKoopa 3 years ago

New evidence, based on mineral dating, suggests that rocks of the Blue Mountains, the oldest geological formation in Oregon, may have been derived from the Klamath and Sierra Nevada mountain chains, University of Oregon researchers report. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Take control over your vitamin/mineral supplement! This site offers suggestions, then lets you customize what's in your supplement, and how much. I just blew $42 on vitamins at Walgreens yesterday, wish I'd seen this site then. picked by hypnotode 3 years ago

Zircon minerals from the Jack Hills in Australia are the oldest minerals known on Earth and can yield a bit of information about Earth's history. picked by tundramonkey 3 years ago

A spectacular megabreccia (a coarse rock assemblage composed of large angular-to-rounded fragments, some over 6m in length, held together by a mineral cement – in this particular case by melted rock in the form of fine crystalline glassy material) in the Kraaipan granite-greenstone terrane, located roughly midway between Mafikeng and Vryburg, has provided the first clues to the recognition o... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

A contract of mutual self-delusion exists between the caller and the phone sex operator. The caller imagines he his to most secret fantasy whatever it may be, animal, vegetable or mineral and the operator willingly plays the part.

*SFW pictures, the subject matter is up to you :0 picked by doggylives 1 year ago

Obama the loggerhead sea turtle was found ailing off a Key West beach on Jan. 19, the eve of the inauguration. Suffering from an intestinal impaction, the 200-pound female was nursed back to health with a diet of squid and mineral oil at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Fla.

*Yeah, it's a slow news day* picked by kakana 5 months ago

Following on my earlier post about our hunger for gold, here's a story from The Economist about likely future exploitation of the seabed, for anything from mineral to pharmaceutical reasons. Your thoughts? picked by rambler 11 months ago

Two space rocks in our solar system's outer asteroid belt might contain mineral evidence for a new class of asteroids or long eroded mini-worlds. The asteroids, (7472) Kumakiri and (10537) 1991 RY16, were found to contain basalt, a grey-black mineral that forms much of the crust on Earth and the other inner planets. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Garnet Hertz has implanted a miniature webserver in the body of a frog specimen, which is suspended in a clear glass container of mineral oil, an inert liquid that does not conduct electricity. The frog is viewable on the Internet, and on the computer monitor across the room, through a webcam placed on the wall of the gallery. picked by AutumnLotus 11 months ago

Hyotan Kara Mizu is a new brand of Japanese mineral water that sets itself apart through its appealing packaging. The reuseable bottles come in 20 different designs and the curvaceous, organic shape is meant to resemble a gourd - the traditional Japanese canteen. picked by mitzuzake 2 years ago

A mineral that acts like a sponge beneath Earth's surface stores more oxygen than expected, keeping our planet from becoming dry and inhospitable like Mars. The key to the abundant oxygen storage is the mineral majorite, which exists deep below Earth's surface in the mantle. Without the oxygen stockpile, Earth would probably be a barren planet hostile to life. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

For the first time, satellite imagery reveals thick Martian salt deposits scattered across the planet's southern surface, which one planetary scientist claims could be sites of ancient life. The mats of sodium chloride — the same taste-enhancing mineral found on your kitchen table — serve as more evidence of Mars' watery past, and researchers think the briney pools that made them could... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The mineral composition of a near-Earth asteroid with a slight chance of striking our planet in 2036 has been determined for the first time. By analyzing sunlight reflected off its surface, scientists say the asteroid Apophis is a "good match" for a rare type of stony meteorite known as a type LL chondrite. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Tiny changes to the length of days on Earth may be due to a mineral in the deep Earth that conducts electricity at high rates, a new study says. picked by h2so4hurts 2 years ago

A flawed, but humorous look at whether sex is physiologically healthier than abstinence.
Classy. picked by jaxomlotus 3 years ago